This year, for the first time, Cincinnati Pride will feature free, live roller derby courtesy of the Cincinnati Rollergirls.
CRG will hold a series of intra-league exhibition scrimmages beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 25 at Cincinnati’s outdoor skating rink, located between Sawyer Point Park and the Montgomery Inn Boathouse. After the scrimmages, the public is invited to an open skate with a live DJ from 6-9 p.m. The open skate is organized by Cincinnati Skate Collective, a community of local quad and inline skaters that holds regular skating meetups. Cleveland-based Next Level Skate Shop will also be on hand selling roller skate wheels, protective gear and accessories.
Together, the roller derby expo and open skate make up the second annual Pride Roll Out. Cincinnati Skate Collective and the Cincinnati Rollergirls organized the inaugural Pride Roll Out in 2021 after the Cincinnati Pride Parade was canceled for the second year in a row. About 200 skaters rolled from Smale Riverfront Park to the outdoor rink for an open skate with a live DJ.
Pride will also mark the first time since 2019 that local roller derby fans will be able to see the Cincinnati Rollergirls in action. After a decade at the Cincinnati Gardens and three seasons at Schmidt Memorial Fieldhouse at Xavier University, CRG was scheduled to move to the Cintas Center at Xavier in 2020 but was forced to cancel the entire season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Cincinnati Rollergirls are planning to hold boot camps and tryouts for prospective skaters this summer and home games this fall. More details will be announced soon.
The Cincinnati Rollergirls are a member of the international Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), which has one of the most progressive gender policies in sports. The WFTDA gender policy states: “An individual who identifies as a trans woman, intersex woman, and/or gender expansive may skate with a WFTDA charter team if women’s flat track roller derby is the version and composition of roller derby with which they most closely identify.”
Pride Roll Out Details
What: Second Annual Pride Roll Out featuring Cincinnati Rollergirls Roller Derby Expo + Open Skate
When: 2-9 p.m. Saturday, June 25, 2022
Where: Outdoor skating rink located between Sawyer Point Park and Montgomery Inn Boathouse (park at Theodore M. Berry International Friendship Park, 1135 Riverside Dr, Cincinnati, OH 45202)
Event schedule:
2 p.m.: Cincinnati Junior Rollergirls exhibition scrimmage (15 minutes)
3 p.m.: Cincinnati Rollergirls exhibition scrimmage #1 (30 minutes )
4 p.m.: Cincinnati Rollergirls exhibition scrimmage #2 (30 minutes)
6-9 p.m.: Open skate with DJ Hershe B (skaters must bring their own skates; no rental skates will be available)
Cost: Free
More information and updates: Facebook
2021 Pride Roll Out photo courtesy of JP Leong